Hello G World. I know you are wondering, just who the “kale” is this new GreenChef, right? Well if your not, you should be. Really you should be, and here is why, because I am not just your average, GreenChef, oh no, I am your average Nutritionist, Foodie, Yoga loving, Canadian GreenChef. See, completely different. But of course, the why’s dont stop there, no not even close. I will start by telling you, I am honestly living my passion. Yes my passion, called food. I am surrounded by this most precious element of life and I love it.

I grew up with a keen interest for anything that was related to “healthy” food. Whatever that meant – some of this included low fat yogurt, boxed granola and snack-well cookies but hey, at least I was trying!

This was the start of my path. I then ventured into the world of fitness and nutrition and very quickly became fascinated with the impact that food had on the body. I loved how what you ate affected everything you did, how you felt and how you looked. I wanted to help people make choices around food that would contribute to how they looked and felt everyday. So I went to school and became a certified nutritionist and started to do exactly that – and this made me very happy at the time – but it wasn’t enough.

I wanted more than this. I wanted to be in the kitchen. I wanted to create, experiment and play with new and exciting ingredients – thus my inner “green” chef was born. I was already very well acquainted with the concept of whole food after being given a book called “The Enlightened eater’s whole foods guide” by Rosie Schwartz. I loved learning about every single nutrient in each food item –(I am a bit of a keener that way). Ever since, I have continued to build my foodie book library, as more likely to be caught reading “The China Study” than the latest romance novel. Then there are my veggie cookbooks, which oozes inspiration from Sarma Melngailis to Heidi Swanson and other veggie lovers.

From here I began to use only the best, nutrient dense, high quality ingredients in my cooking and food preparation. This of course made all my recipes delicious, healthy and amazing. To me, there is no other way – when you discover the power of pure foods, there is no turning back!

So my playing in the kitchen began to grow. I started going to vegetarian cooking classes, watching different cooking shows, building up my organic pantry and then ventured across the border to New York to become a certified natural chef in Manhattan. Just being in New York and sampling different creations and combinations at their array of incredible (veggie) restaurants was an experience in itself!

This fostered my foodie passion even more and brought me home to create the life (and living) that I have now. Where I educate and facilitate whole foods organic cooking classes. What can be better than learning about food among other people and eating it all at the end? Together we create fun, simple, colourful and delicious recipes that make everyone happy no matter how young or old. Using plants as my palette and drawing on raw, vegan, local, seasonal and (backyard) fresh ingredients – my recipes have come to life!

I have been fortunate enough to have many outlets to extend my love and knowledge of food –from hands on home cooking classes, to raw detox retreats and wellness workshops, I am surely not bored with my day job! It is exciting and keeps me on my toes. I also just came back from Kenya, Africa where I was educating small villages on the benefits of green leafy veggies – what an incredible opportunity!

But for the most part, I am here in my hometown of Toronto making simple and delicious changes in peoples lives.

I am proud and excited to be living in this abundant world full of green veggies and potential! So I will keep doing what I do best, learning, creating, teaching and eating. When I am not in the kitchen you can find me doing yoga, running, hiking, traveling, chasing butterflies and spending time with my family.

But all in all, this is where I am at now, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else!